Fears are growing of a full-blown assault in Rafah, long threatened by Israel, against holdouts of the Palestinian militant group Hamas as ceasefire talks in Cairo stall.
The city, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, has been the last sanctuary for around half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, pushed south by Israel’s seven-month-old assault.
Hamas official Izzat al-Rashiq said in a statement that any Israeli operation in Rafah would put the truce talks in jeopardy.
Israel said on Monday it was conducting limited operations on the eastern part of Rafah, following a rocket attack claimed by Hamas fighters that killed four Israeli soldiers at the main border crossing into Rafah the previous day.
"We’ve asked civilians to move out of harm’s way. We’ve been extremely specific about the areas which we’ll be targeting...", government spokesman David Mencer said.
Israeli bombardment of eastern Rafah areas continued throughout the day on Monday.
“They have been firing since last night and today after the evacuation orders the bombardment became more intense because they want to frighten us to leave,” Jaber Abu Nazly, a 40-year old father of two told Reuters via a chat app.
“Some families already left, others are wondering whether there is any place safe in the whole of Gaza,” he added.
Overnight, Israeli planes had hit 10 houses, killing 20 people, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said it had struck the site from which the previous day’s rocket had been launched at its troops.
Instructed by Arabic text messages, phone calls, and flyers to move to what the Israeli military called an "expanded humanitarian zone" around 20 km (12 miles) away, some Palestinian families began trundling away in chilly spring rain.
Some piled children and possessions onto donkey carts, while others left by pick-up or on foot through muddy streets.
Abdullah Al-Najar said this was the fourth time he had been displaced since the fighting began seven months ago, as families dismantled tents and folded belongings.
"God knows where we will go now. We have not decided yet."
Israel began what it called a "limited scope" evacuation operation in Rafah after the strike which closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing at the southeast corner of the city, the main entry point for aid into the south of the enclave.
Israel’s closest ally the United States has urged it not to go ahead with an all-out assault on Rafah. The White House said President Joe Biden spoke on Monday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had agreed to reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Nick Maynard, a British surgeon trying to leave Gaza on Monday, said in a voice message from the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing into Egypt: "Two huge bombs have just gone off immediately outside the crossing. There’s a lot of gunfire as well about 100 meters from us. We are very unclear whether we will get out."
"Driving through Rafah, the tension was palpable with people evacuating as rapidly as they could."
A senior Hamas official said Israel’s evacuation order was a "dangerous escalation" that would have consequences.
"The U.S. administration, alongside the occupation, bears responsibility for this terrorism," the official, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters.
Hamas said later in a statement that any offensive in Rafah would not be a "picnic" for Israeli forces.
Aid agencies have warned that a full evacuation of Rafah would lead to an even worse humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
"Forcing over a million displaced Palestinians from Rafah to evacuate without a safe destination is not only unlawful but would lead to catastrophic consequences," British charity ActionAid said.
’BIGGEST CATASTROPHE’ Residents say the areas in and around Rafah where Israel now wants them to go are already crowded with little room for more tents.
"The biggest genocide, the biggest catastrophe will take place in Rafah. I call on the whole Arab world to interfere for a ceasefire - let them interfere and save us from what we are in," said Aminah Adwan, a displaced Palestinian.
Israel has been threatening for months to assault Rafah, which it says has become the last redoubt of fighters from Hamas, the militant group responsible for the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and precipitated the war.
Israel says thousands of Hamas fighters are hidden among the civilians in Rafah, along with the group’s senior leaders and many hostages captured on Oct. 7.
"The purpose of the action in Rafah is to destroy the last four batallions of Hamas in Rafah," Mercer said. "We cannot leave them there. They’ve stated very very clearly that they will re-form, re-take Gaza and will carry out Oct 7 again and again and again."
With war having killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza, the prospect of a high-casualty operation worries Western powers and neighbouring Egypt, trying to mediate a ceasefire.
An unidentified "high-level" source was quoted by Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera news TV as saying on Monday that talks had hit an impasse since Sunday’s Kerem Shalom crossing strike. Earlier, security sources said Egypt had raised its military preparedness in northern Sinai adjacent to Gaza.
